Over 10 million Americans carry at least one major implanted medical device. However, there are a lack of industrial and medical standards to ensure the efficacy and safety of tissue engineered medical products. This application proposes a strategy whereby NMR derived parameters can be used for the non-destructive evaluation of tissue engineered bone implants in vitro and in vivo. The main goal of this work is to develop surrogate measures of tissue-specific parameters comparable with those of established, but invasive techniques. This goal will be accomplished through the application of the following specific aims: 1 To develop a three-dimensional intramembranous ossification model that will allow bone formation by anchorage-dependent osteoblasts. 2 To employ X-ray microtomography (XMT) to measure the spatial distribution of mineral deposits formed within this tissue model. 3 To employ FT-IR spectroscopy and mapping to measure the quantity and distribution of collagen within this tissue model. 4 To employ NMR microscopy to measure the water proton longitudinal (T1) and transverse (T2) relaxation times and the water proton magnetization transfer ratio (MTR) of the bone produced within this tissue model. 5 To correlate quantitative NMR maps of water proton relaxation times (T1 and T2) with mineral density maps measured by XMT. 6 To correlate quantitative NMR maps of water proton MTR values with collagen maps derive by FT-IR mapping. 7 To apply quantitative NMR indices developed in the above studies to derive spatial maps of collagen content and mineral formation in constructs composed of hydroxyapatite (HA) using non-invasive NMR microscopy.